“I feel like we should solve the murder ourselves,” Chloe said. “I’m sorry, Vicki. It’s just my grief. I shouldn’t say that. I’m sorry.”
“Right... there,” Landon punctuated his remark with a click on the trackpad, and he paused the clip.
“What are we looking at?” I asked.
“See, Olivia’s hands?” he touched the monitor and pointed to her fingers.
“Yeah?” I said.
“See how she’s doing that thing?” he said. “They’re talking about the case, and she shot Julianna the 666 sign.”
I looked closer at the still frame of Olivia playing with her hair. I guess I could make out the three finger gesture commonly known as the “perfect,” signal. Well, sort of.
“Hmmm,” I said.
“Now,” Landon said. “Let’s look at another clip.”
He showed me another clip of the girls after meditation. They were getting off the ground, and Julianna again was sharing a memory of Beyo.
“See this?” he asked.
He paused it again. “So, the subject is Beyo again, and look at Olivia’s hands.”
Olivia looked at Julianna speaking, and she rubbed one eye in the Arizona sun.
“See?” he said. “That’s the Satanic one eye of horus. There was no reason for her to only rub one eye. She’s signaling.”
I cleared my throat and sipped my coffee.
“Okay,” Landon said. “One more.”
He showed me one other thing, but something else caught my eye on the monitor. I leaned forward.
“Hold on a sec, play that part again,” I said as I stared into the screen.
“Yeah,” he said.
He clicked and dragged on the video progress bar. “Tell me when.”
“Right... there,” I said.
He played the clip again, and I had an epiphany.
“That’s it,” I muttered to myself. “That’s the answer.”
“Ahhhh,” Landon exclaimed and jumped out of his chair so fast he knocked it over. He clapped his hands over his head and exclaimed more.
“I knew it,” he said. “I knew it. We’re going to break this wide open!”
AJ and Vicki ran into the room to see about the commotion.
“What’s going on?” Vicki asked.
“Everything alright?” AJ looked concerned.
“We need to depose Olivia,” I said. “Now.”
I had the whole murder figured out, but it had nothing to do with hand signals.
Chapter 18
It took close to a week to arrange a formal deposition with Olivia. The variety of logistics necessary for this procedure are often difficult to get on short notice. But, we’ve done enough in our days here to be able to call them in with a fair amount of ease.
Depositions typically involve the client, the prosecutor, a witness, and attorneys for both the client and the witness. Olivia had an attorney drive in from Flagstaff, and that didn’t surprise me. I would guess his fees would be collected through John Malone’s office, courtesy of the Arizona taxpayers in a roundabout way.
Olivia’s attorney was a squirrelly man named Neville, and was the first to arrive. He was over an hour early. He spent most of the morning hanging out in our conference room, making a mess of our coffee station, and then asking for lots of random amenities like napkins, the bathroom, an extension cord for his laptop, and the use of a printer.
Landon was helping him connect his laptop to our printer, when the other parties arrived. Chet the prosecutor, and Oliva, along with police chief Hal Durant. Julianna decided she didn’t want to come. She said it was too emotional, and since Landon would be taping it anyway, it wasn’t necessary.
Landon had been kicked out of the conference room for the deposition, and now had his video equipment shoved into a corner, and the clutter was making me a little crazy.
His laptop was now perched on the side of AJ’s desk, and this had caused a handful of scuffles throughout the morning. Both parties were now comfortable enough with each other to demand, “Get your stuff out of my way” periodically. Young love.
Everyone had arrived for the deposition, and they all filed into the conference room and took their respective seats. Vicki and I sat on one side, with Chet next to me, and then Hal, and then Neville and Olivia.
Olivia looked frail as always with long legs, and blonde hair that was pulled into a tight ponytail. She had large blue eyes and very pale skin. She moved with poise and ease and only spoke when spoken to. She recoiled when she saw Landon and the camera.
Landon nodded politely. He had the video on a tripod. Normally, a non legal figure would not be allowed in a deposition, but since he was taping it, in lieu of a court reporter, he was fine.
“Try not to make that thing look so intimidating,” I told him as I squeezed into the crowded room.
“Yeah,” he whispered and shrugged.
He awkwardly smiled as he navigated his way around the small room. It occured to me that Landon was a little out of his comfort zone. He was comfortable with our little team, but all the people in this room here were well above his… pay grade. He leaned against the wall and shoved his hands deep into his jean pockets and appeared to be thinking the exact same thing.
I stood and took control of the room.
“What we want to do now,” I said, “is find out everything we can about the night of Beyo’s murder. This isn’t a trial, we just need to know, Olivia, what you know.”
“I already told you everything that day you came to the house,” she said. “He recorded it, so I don’t know why we need to have this meeting. Am I a... a... suspect?”
I avoided the question and instead turned the meeting over to Chet, the
